America's Meat Industry Hides From The Consumer

In addition to his solutions, Pollan’s modern narrative sheds light on the façade of our food industries; asking us to rethink what we know. Despite the mention of certain inhumane acts in All Animals are Equal, Pollan takes us one step further to uncover the reason for which we continue to purchase our corrupt food. We all know animal abuse exists, but the average consumer like myself is more worried about the best price and the fastest way to get a burger rather than how fairly the animals are treated in the process. Whether it be the confined living space of chickens or the mental and physical torture of pigs, we continue to blind ourselves from reality. Is it purely out of selfishness? Or are we too ignorant to come to terms with our wrong doings? Like Pollan explains, it takes seeing the abuse before the shame of our disrespect can be felt (pg.6). After seeing Pollan’s truth, I might now think twice before eating out and the choice to support organic produce can make a dramatic difference for those farmers who promote the ethical lifestyle.

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Meat-producing companies try to hide the conditions in which their livestock are kept before being slaughtered. In Iowa, a bill called H.F.589 attempted to make it illegal to record videos and pictures at a farm without the facility owner's consent, and illegal to agree to work there to get a hold of undercover photos and videos of animal cruelty (Lin). Companies know that most people will be put off by seeing the acts that go on in order to provide inexpensive meat and dairy products that can be packaged and sold. People buy meat products to enjoy a tasty meal, but if the process involved in creating their food is untrustworthy, it could

“I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we 've got to do it right. We 've got to give those animals a decent life and we 've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.” ― Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin brings up a brilliant point, it’s okay to eat meat but it’s not okay to treat these animals throughout their life as just something that you will be killing. They have the right to live healthily and in a property environment. Throughout the novel The Chain by Ted Genoways it brings a light to all the dangerous conditions animals and workers go through and what actually goes into the meat you buy in stores. Although low prices on farm produced meat sound enticing, the abused caused to animals and the dangerous working conditions for workers cause dangerously poor sanitation, and can affect many Americans health.

In “The Way of All Flesh” the author Ted Conover describes his experience working as an undercover USDA inspector in a meat packing plant. He shows how extremely grotesque the industry really is by providing numerous examples on the health and treatment of animals, the conditions of the meat, and the health and treatment of the employees. Conover shows the reader what it is really like in the slaughterhouse by using descriptive language. Throughout the article Conover brings up the treatment and the conditions the animals are put in. Conover supports his arguments by appealing to the reader’s emotions, by making the readers feel sympathetic for both the animals and workers.

Every year, an average American will consume approximately one hundred-twenty six pounds of meat. This meat can be traced back to factory farms where the animals are kept to be tortured to turn into a product for the appetite of humans. The terrible treatment these animals are forced to endure is the outcome of the greed and want for a faster production of their product. The industry of factory farming works to maximize the output of the meat while maintaining low costs,but will sadly always comes at the animals’ expense.

The dependence on meat and meat products in the United States is at an all-time high. Despite the great need for healthy and ethical meat, the procedures in meatpacking facilities have not been improved much in the past century. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser outlines some of the most important facts and realities facing slaughterhouse workers today. The problems with the food can be fixed with chemicals and the like, but the value of human life cannot be improved without the influence of government actions. There are still such injustices to the workers as sexual harassment, injuries that go unnoticed, and horrific treatment of sanitation workers.

Many people who think that the way that we treat animals in the process of raising those for human consumption are wrong never stop, to think what they can do to stop this problem from further occurring. Furthermore, they make impassioned calls for more “humanely” raised meat. Instead to soothe their consciences they shop for “free range” meat, and eggs; which has no importance. Even if an animal is raised ‘free range” it still lives s life of pain and suffering that all ends with a butcher’s knife. Although many know that over 53 billion land animals are slaughtered each year for human utilization they still tend to eat this meat with no problem. The simple explanation is that many don’t care what happens to animals as long as they are eating and healthy. If they did care then they would what could be a difficult choice; to go without eating meat and selling it in any form.

We do not take in consideration on where our meat comes from and how they treat the animals. People do not know how the process is from slaughtering a cow to the meat that you buy in your neighborhood market. In the book Foodopoly, Wenonah Hauter argues that there is a misrepresentation on what truly happens in the meatpacking industry, hog industry, the impact on small farmers, and how the working conditions are for the meat packing industry workers.

Factory farms having locked doors only reinforces what some of us already suspect. That they are engaging in activities appalling to the public. Their secrecy is seemingly sustaining their business. Consumers’ ignorance of the meat production business only encourages inhumane animal husbandry. Foer says, “the power brokers of factory farming know that their business model depends on consumers not being able to see (or hear about) what they do.” (pg. 87) This is why we need to educate ourselves on this matter extensively and start actively demanding where our meat is coming from. Advocating for animal welfare is one way we can begin the process of changing or ultimately ending factory farming.

What is the price of cheap meat? Is the mistreatment of animals, immigrants, manipulation of local politics, and monopolizing industry really something that people want to support just so they can purchase meat cheaper and in larger quantities? Ted Genoways book The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food dives into the meat packing industry, specifically Hormel and the Quality Pork Processors Inc. He investigates how the factory is run, how the employees are exploited and mistreated, the abuse of the hogs that are used for the meat, and the overall disgust that stems from the industry. Big business has always had a reputation for being shady and always looking for new ways to manipulate rules and regulations in order for them to maximize

America is a country of meat lovers! Yet a lot of us don’t know about how most of these farm animals are killed. Farm operators know what they are doing is wrong and they will try hard to hide these gruesome images from the public. A new popular method used by the agriculture lobby is the ag-gag law. This law makes it so it’s a crime to secretly videotape industrial feedlot and slaughterhouses to expose animal mistreat and abuse. Already seven states have this law in the book! In a nation that lavishes loves and has legitimate securities on house pets, processing plant animals are forgotten and exposed to the harsh elements.

Key to the current state of America’s meat industry, according to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, is the fact that it is primarily hidden from the consumer. The consumer, as well as corporations, have chosen to build walls instead of demanding transparency. The general public and journalists are not permitted to enter abattoirs of many corporations, leaving the judgement of how animals should be slaughtered to the businesses themselves. State and federal regulations are not often put into practice as they should be, enabling the corporation to decide what is ‘humane’ and what is not. Handing this judgement to a profit organisation enables the corporation to find the most efficient and most lucrative system, ignoring

Walking through your local grocery store, such as Kroger’s, you will see the isle filled of poultry, with variation from chicken, beef, veal, and steak. People often question the high cost of the meats and their quality, but do they ever question where their meat is coming from or how it was processed? I would assume the answer is no. In the New York Times article “U.S. Research Lab Lets Livestock Suffer in Quest for Profit” we are introduced to the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) and exposed to their inhumane experiments being used on our livestock’s, which in turn is the meat we buy in our stores. Although some experts such as Robert R. Oltjen, the center’s director, argue that humans are superior to

till you are brought to your death. The issue with the way these factory farms are ran are that the quality and cleanliness of the meat being produced are at risk, these farms also contribute a large amount of pollution into the air as well as pose a great moral issue.